The Gathering of the Nations for Judgment (St. Nikolai Velimirovich)

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"And all the nations will be assembled before Him" (Matt. 25:32).

All the nations will be assembled before the Lord Jesus when He appears in His glory surrounded by Holy Angels sitting on a throne as the judge of all the living and the dead. "All nations will be assembled," all, without exception. Not only the Jews who tormented Him, not only the Christians who glorified Him, but also the heathen who knew Him not, nor acknowledged Him. For if He did not appear to all nations, He sent to all nations someone or He gave something for the sake of knowing God's will and for the sake of salvation. That is why all nations must appear before Him for judgment. 

All Will Behold the Second Coming of the King of Glory

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, He will sit upon His glorious throne" (Matt. 25:31).

This is how our Lord spoke just before His most horrible humiliations, before being bound, before being spat upon, before being slapped, and before being ridiculed prior to His crucifixion. In His most darkest hour, He speaks about His most vivid and most glorious hour. Before His most terrible and miserable departure from this world, He speaks about His second coming in His glory. At first, He came from the cave in Bethlehem, humble and unseen, and the second time, He will come on the clouds of His angels. The first time as though He sprouted out of the earth, and the second time He will appear from the heavens. The first time He stood and knelt on the ground, and the second time He will be sitting on His throne of glory.

Five Characteristics of the Second Coming of Christ

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"For just as lightning comes from the east and is seen as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man" (Matt. 24:27).

The second coming of our Lord Jesus will be a coming in glory. Our Lord repeated this many times. Here He tells us in more detail as to what this, His coming, will resemble. He says it will resemble lightning. Through this He reveals the five characteristics of His glorious coming.

What Will Be the Sign of the Son of Man in the Heavens Before His Coming?

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens" (Matt. 24:30).

What kind of sign will the sign of the Son of Man be, which once had been shown briefly? That is the cross, more brighter than the sun, which manifested itself over Jerusalem before the coming of an earlier personification of the Antichrist by the name of Julian the Apostate. And in lieu of every homily concerning this miraculous sign, it is worthwhile to quote here the letter of St. Cyril of Jerusalem written to Emperor Constantius, the son of Constantine the Great and predecessor of Julian the Apostate. A portion of his letter reads:

The Son of Man Shall Come in His Glory (St. Theophylact of Ochrid)

Meatfare Sunday

The Last Judgment

Matthew 25:31-46

By St. Theophylact, Archbishop of Ochrid and Bulgaria

31-33. When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.